Down the Rabbit Hole
by readingbooks-blowingminds
Summary: A young girl named Alice is admitted to a mental hospital. She has to escape. During the hellish experience Alice creates Wonderland...
1. Chapter 1

I remember I'm falling. I'm falling

Down

Down

Down

I fall onto the padded floor in a heap. I find the softness of the floor strangely comforting, until I hear the high, female voice say

"We're going to make you all better Alice"

The door slams, it's loud, but I still hear the woman's voice bouncing around the room, whispering my name over and over. I scream, trying to get the voice out of my head, I scream until my throat is raw, but I still hear the whispers. I pull myself into the foetal position, a single tear rolls down my cheek. I black out.

I wake up in the corner of the padded prison, my legs pulled up to my chest, my head resting on my knees. The door opens, squeaking slightly.

"Alice today is your first day of recovery!"

It's her. I look up, but instead of a woman, I see a rather small man, a huge moustache taking up most of the bottom half of his face.

"Come now dear, come with me"

He says in a high voice, it doesn't match the other one, standing in the doorway, stretching out his hand. I stand and make my way to the door, stumbling slightly. The tiles of the hallway feel cold under my bare feet, it's refreshing. The man takes my hand, but I pull it away, there's no way I'm letting him touch me.

I lay staring at a small crack in the ceiling, the whole room reeks of death. The small man strapped my wrists and ankles to the table underneath me and left. That was about ten minutes ago is I've been counting correctly. I continue to stare at the ceiling, there's a crack in the corner of the room, about a metre long, there's cracks all over the ceiling, most of them small and insignificant. I will the cracks to be enough to break the ceiling; I will the ceiling to crush me. I'd rather be dead then keep staying here.

I nearly fall asleep I'm laying on that table so long. The door opens and I barely have enough energy to lift my head and see who it is.

"Alice! What a pleasure it is to finally see you with my own two eyes" That voice, the same voice I've been hearing since I got here, only a few metres away. A face appears above me; bright red and shiny. She touches my temple with something, something sticky.

"This procedure has only been tested on three patients so far and all but one of them showed significant improvement. I truly believe with all my heart that this is going to make you better Alice." Her voice is practically singing with happiness.

I hear metal grinding and something that sounds like electricity crackling. A jolt runs through my body, tickling my insides, I giggle.

 _"I'm late…"_

Barely a whisper but I'm sure I heard it. Another jolt runs through my body, it hurts slightly.

 _"I'm late…"_

I hear it better this time, its a little louder. Another jolt. The pain escapes through my lips.

 _"I'm late…"_

The voice sounds like it's coming from right next to me. Another jolt. It hurts so bad I cry out.

 _"I'm late!"_

It's a yell this time. The jolts continue, after everyone the same words are yelled into my ear over and over.

I don't remember getting back to the familiar padded room.

 _"I'm late…"_

The whisper echoes around the room until I black out.


	2. Chapter 2

I wake up on the ground, an earthy smell filling my nose. I get to my feet and look around me. I'm in a forest, the trees around me stretching to the sky. I start to walk, I have no idea where I'm going, I'm just glad to be out of that prison. All I can hear is crickets chirping, the occasional hoot of an owl, and my own feet crunching on the dried leaves. Suddenly I hear someone else run across the leaves. Who or whatever they are, they're fast.

"Alice!" I whip around and a white rabbit with matted fur in a waistcoat is pointing furiously at a pocket watch.

"Alice, you're late!" yells the rabbit

It's the same voice I hear whenever I feel that jolt run through my body. The rabbit turns on its heel and runs off into the night.

"Rabbit! Rabbit! Wait, please!" I yell after it. When it doesn't stop I take off after it. I chase it until we get to a clearing, the rabbit has stopped, waiting for me. I slow to a stop, panting slightly. The rabbit takes my hand and I black out.

The rabbit is gone, and now I'm standing in a huge, circular hall. The ceiling is made of glass, yet I can't see out of it. The floor is beautiful marble, shimmering slightly in the dim light. There are doors all around me, perhaps the rabbit has gone in one and expects me to follow him. I run to a huge oak door, and turn the golden handle, but it's locked. I run frantically around the room trying every door, but none open. I fall, exhausted, onto the floor, a tear rolls down my cheek. I look up and see a silk curtain; I get up and pull it aside, nothing but a blank wall. Disappointed I look down and see a small door; it couldn't be more than thirty centimetres high. Maybe this is where the rabbit went. I try the door, locked. I bang on the door, begging it to open.

"Alice…" barely a whisper. I whip around and see no one, all that is there is a glass table. I walk to the table and all that is on it is a small, wooden box, plain and unassuming. I open the lid and find a key, sitting atop a velvet pillow. The velvet graces the tips of my fingers as I pick up the key. I run over to the small door and jam the key into the lock, trying to keep my hand from shaking as the small door swings open. I stick my head through and see the rabbit at the end of the cobblestone path, waiting for me. His white fur looks striking against the dark, cloudy sky and the dead, overgrown rose bushes. I try and wiggle my way through the door, even though I know it's hopeless. I turn to go and put the key on table while I figure out a way to get through the door, but the box is gone, replaced by a small glass bottle, with a clear liquid inside it. I pick it up and notice the small label hanging off the neck of the bottle. _Drink me._ I pull the cork from the top of the bottle and lift it to my nose; the smell reminds me of fear. Fear of a silhouette of a man, a bottle in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other.

"What's the worst that could happen?" I say aloud, my voice echoing in the empty hall. I tip the contents of the bottle into my mouth and swallow. I cough and splutter, it tastes worse than it smells.

Just as I was beginning to think nothing happened, I noticed how much bigger the table had become. As I was looking up at the table, I notice the golden key hanging off the edge slightly, I jump to grab it. Jumping isn't working, so I attempt to climb up the table leg. I'm about halfway up when I notice the sweat on my forehead, just as notice this, a gust of wind charges through the room, knocking the table to the ground, it shatters and pieces of it fly everywhere. I fall with the table and hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of me. I struggle to breath and a single tear comes out of my eye, showing how hopeless I feel. I try to breath as normal when I feel air rush into my lungs, I stay still for a while, just breathing, staring at the ceiling. I roll onto my stomach and spy the key not too far from me. I climb to my feet and grab the key and run to the door, jamming it into the lock and turning it, the door flies open. I run into the door and hear it slam behind me, I turn around and the door is morphing into a dilapidated archway with the word 'Wonderland' across the top. Through the archway is a never ending cobblestone path. I'm trapped.


	3. Chapter 3

I wake up in my cell.

"How did I get back here?" I wonder out loud.

The heavy door swings open and the small man with the big moustache is standing in the doorway.

"Good morning, my dear." He sings

I manage a small smile, he stretches out his hand and I walk to him. I know what's happening. I'm going back to Wonderland.

I'm strapped on the table again, sticky stuff on my temples. The jolts start. They start hurting straight away this time, I let out a yell. They don't get any easier to bear; I'm yelling and screaming, begging for the jolts to stop. They don't, they keep getting worse, I scream until I black out.

I open my eyes and I'm back in Wonderland. I look towards the end of the path to see if the rabbit waited for me, but he's gone. He must've left thinking I wasn't coming.

"Rabbit! Rabbit! I came back! Rabbit! Please come back!" I scream

"Alice?" A small, slurred voice says from behind me. I whip around but no one is there. I hear something small rustle the rose bushes, I choose to ignore it.

I start to walk, following the path. I only hear the slapping of my bare feet on the stone.

"Alice, you're late" the rabbit appears in front of me, making me jump.

"Late for what?" I question the rabbit, my voice sounding croaky.

The rabbit giggles, and then runs off along the path. I don't have a chance to think before I'm chasing him to God only knows where.

The rose bushes have begun to grow closer together, as I run past them they grab at my dress, my arms and my legs. The rabbit slips past them as if they were made of smoke. The rabbit is running fast, effortlessly, whereas my legs are hurting, my breathing is coming in ragged gasps and I can't run as fast as I was. My foot catches on something and the ground comes to meet me. I throw my hands out in front of me and I hit the ground, hard.

"Shit" I mutter under my breath

I look ahead of me and see the rabbit has stopped, he's standing there giggling. I feel pain shooting up my left arm, from my wrist. I hold my arm out and see my wrist is bent backwards. I can't hold it up very long and my arm falls down by my side.

I look up and the rabbit has disappeared, again. Why does he keep disappearing like this? Hot, angry tears, stream down my face. My I feel as if someone is crushing my wrist in a vice. I need help. I keep walking down the path, holding my wrist in my other hand, careful not to bump it too much. I walk until I enter a clearing, I can't see a thing because of the smoke hanging in the air. I take a deep breath, the smoke smells familiar.

"Who are YOU?" A monotonous voice fills the clearing


	4. Chapter 4

I wake up on the table.

"Good to see you awake, Alice my dear. You blacked out yesterday and didn't wake up so we had to carry you to your room" the red faced lady says.

Yesterday? I feel a twinge in my wrist and look at it. It's bandaged and it's the same wrist I hurt while I was in Wonderland.

"Ah yes, we're not sure how you broke your wrist, but you broke it well, a clean snap. Luckily we had our doctor on hand to patch you up" the red faced lady says, fake sympathy in her voice.

One jolt, that's all it took, I was out cold.

"I said, who are YOU?"

The smoke is beginning to clear and I see a mushroom, a really big mushroom. On top of the mushroom is a blue caterpillar, smoking a pipe. I clear my throat,

"Alice" I mumble

"Speak up girl" the caterpillar says loudly

"Alice. My name is Alice" I say in a voice as loud as I can muster.

"And what are you doing here?" the caterpillar asks

"I...I don't know. I keep waking up here, I don't have a choice." I reply

"Of course you have a choice, stupid girl. If you are here, you're obviously choosing to be here" the caterpillar shoots back at me.

"I would never choose to come here, all I wanted was to escape!" this caterpillar is beginning to infuriate me.

"And have you?" the caterpillar asks, resuming his monotonous voice.

The smoke is becoming thick again; I can hardly see the caterpillar or his mushroom anymore.

"Wait, please, what do you mean?" I yell into the smoke.

"Use your head, stupid girl" A faint whisper, but I know it's the caterpillar.

I turn on my heel and continue to walk down the path. It's getting dark quickly, I look around me and see the rose bushes have been replaced by huge towering trees, which block out the sky. I don't mind the dark, so I keep walking.

A black cat, striped with grey appears in front of me, a huge grin on his face. I didn't even know cats could smile.

"Hello, Alice." He purrs

"How do you know my name?" I ask him

"I know many things." He replies

"That doesn't answer my question" I say

"What happened there" he says pointing at my wrist

I look down and see my wrist is bandaged exactly like it had been.

"I tripped, chasing after a rabbit." I don't like that he has changed the subject, but I try to remain polite

"A white rabbit?" He asks, his green eyes widening.

"Yes actually. How did you did you know?" I question

"I know many things" he repeats

"You've said that" I tell him

"Where do you want to go Alice?" He asks

"Where can you take me?" I reply quickly, in a challenging voice.

"I can take you many places, my dear" he shoots back just as fast; his use of that pet name makes my skin crawl.

"You pick then, take me anywhere" I say

His eyes widen again,

"I'll take you to the mad hatter, but then you can find your own way" he says, clearly bored.

"But I don't want to go among mad people" I remark

"Oh you can't help that," said the cat "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad?" I ask

"You must be," said the cat, "or you wouldn't have come here"

I'm about to shoot back a reply, when the cat begins to fade away.

"No..." I say under my breath

"Follow me" the cat says

I spin around and the cats head is hanging in the air, the rest of his body isn't there. Something about that makes me smile as I walk down the path, entranced by those green eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

I wake up in someone's arms; I look up and see a huge moustache. I scream and struggle out of his arms. I took him by surprise and he drops me, my broken wrist taking most of the impact as I hit the ground. I have no time to feel the pain as I get to my feet and run. I run down the hallway, pushing people out of my way.

"Alice!" I hear a deep male voice from behind me.

The voice only makes me want to run faster, so I do, I run faster and faster. As I'm running I see the white rabbit running along beside me. I'm so shocked I stop running and stare as the rabbit runs straight past me, giggling.

The man chasing me finally catches me and roughly grabs my upper arms. I don't fight him. All I can do is think why was the rabbit here, how did he get here?

The man throws me into my room and I bounce slightly as I hit the floor. The door closes with a loud slam. The rabbit was here and he didn't take me to Wonderland, he left me here in this hell. Tears roll down my cheeks, I don't even try to stop them. If the pain of those jolts took me to Wonderland, maybe I could cause myself enough pain to go back. I start scratching at my thighs, not hard at first, but I eventually draw blood. I keep scratching; the blood runs down my leg. It hurts, but it doesn't hurt like those jolts, it stings for a second, but then the pain goes away. I give up scratching, and I'm so frustrated I start screaming. I scream and scream. When I can't scream anymore, I sink to my knees, the tears come again. Finally I black out.

I wake up in front of a gate; nailed onto the gate are two handmade signs. The first one says 'The Hatter and the March Hare'. The second one is much smaller and says 'and the Dormouse too!' I open the get and push it open. I see a long table with a white table cloth, laden with teapots, cups and saucers, bowls of sugar cubes, jugs of milk and plates of little tea cakes. At the head of the table is a man wearing a huge hat, underneath his hat I could just see a hint of flaming, orange hair. I assumed he was the one the cat called 'The Mad Hatter'. Seated next to him was a March hair with patches missing from his fur and wild, red eyes.

"Have you come for tea Alice?" the Hatter asks interrupting my admiring of them.

"H-How do you know my name?" I stammer

"Everyone knows your name Alice" the Hatter says, laughing maniacally

"Please, sit" the March hare says gesturing to a seat next to him.

I take my place at the table, and go to pour myself a cup of tea, but instead of tea, a small mouse in a deep purple coat slips into my cup, he reeks of whisky.

"I am *hic* sorry *hic* Miss Alice" the mouse slurs, climbing out of my cup, and falling face first onto the table. The Hatter and the March hare dissolve into pearls of maniacal laughter. The March hair picks the mouse up by the tail and drops him into another teapot.

"Sugar?" the March hare asks, dropping a whole bowl of sugar cubes into my cup.

"Do you like riddles, Alice?" the Hatter asks, taking a sip of his tea, pulling a face and throwing the cup to the other end of the table, where it smashes on the ground.

"No not re-"I begin to say

"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" the Hatter asks, interrupting me.

Why is a raven like a writing desk? What kind of question is that? A raven doesn't have anything in common with a writing desk.

"Have you guessed the riddle yet?" the Hatter asks

"No I haven't, I give up," I reply "what's the answer?"

"I haven't the slightest idea" the Hatter said, laughing loudly.

"Would you like a little more tea?" the Hatter asks after he stops laughing

"Well, I haven't had any yet, so I can't very well take more" I reply

"Ah, you mean you can't very well take less" the March hare says

"Yes. You can always take more than nothing" the Hatter says matter-of-factly

The March hare pours me a cup of tea and I take a sip. It doesn't taste like tea; I can't quite place the taste. I put my cup back on the table and grab a cake from the tray next to me. I don't get the chance to take a bite before I hear crashing in the trees.


	6. Chapter 6

"The queen," The Hatter says "Run Alice, she's here for you!"

"Hatter, I don't understand" I say, panic ablaze in my voice

"Just run Alice, trust me" The Hatter says insistently

So I leap from my chair and take off. I reach the boundary of the Hatters land and I am greeted by a barbed wire fence. I hear the Hatter cry out and I climb through the fence, my dress gets caught on the wire, so I pull at it until it tears free.

"There she goes!" a deep, male voice says, followed by the neigh of a horse. I keep running through long, dry grass. I hear the horses behind me, so I speed up. I run as fast as I can, the wind whistles in my ears. A horse skids to a stop in front of me. I stop running so suddenly I fall over backwards. I get back to my feet and look around, searching for a way out, I don't find one, I'm surrounded

"You're a tough one to track down, girlie" a tall man says in a deep voice.

I remain quite. The man steps closer to me, grabs a fistful of my hair and leans in close to me. He is quite handsome, his dark brown hair falls in waves around his face, and his only flaw would be the scar that runs diagonally across his face. I meet his green eyes, and I see one thing in his eyes; I see fear.

"Quite a pretty little thing isn't she lads?" he says, spinning me around to face the circle of men around me.

I am greeted by low chuckling and lustful stares.

"Now, now boys, keep it in your pants, we have to get her back to the queen" the man holding my hair chuckles

The men around him murmur agreement, and I even hear a few muttered curse words. The man holding my hair flings me towards his horse, but I trip and fall face first into the ground. I scramble to my feet and the man grabs me around my waist and sits me roughly on his horse. He mounts his horse with ease, turns to me and whispers in a much kinder voice,

"You're going to want to hold on tight Alice"

He turns back around and yells to his men,

"To the Queens castle!"

His men cheer in agreement and take off, his horse starts running so suddenly, I nearly fall off, I quickly wrap my arms around the mysterious stranger in front of me. I rest my head in the crook of his shoulder and breathe in deep, he smells strangely familiar, he smells like safety.

"Whoa boys!" The stranger calls to his men and they all stop. They all dismount their horses and stretch their legs. As the men around me chat, the stranger grabs my wrist and leads me into the forest; I hear whoops and wolf whistles from behind us. He stops suddenly and turns to me,

"Alice, you don't know me, but I know you. I'm sorry for being rough with you, I just need to convince my men you're nothing but another prisoner to me. I'm also sorry for bringing this fate upon you. The Red Queen is cruel, and she isn't particularly fond of you. It's just...she's got my wife prisoner and she promised to release her, if I bring you to the palace. So I am sorry" He says quickly, sounding genuinely sympathetic.

Again I remain quite. I suddenly remember this man, not who he is or how I know him but I see him in front of me, no scar on his face, playing peek-a-boo, with a beautiful, blonde woman by his side, both of them laughing. How do I have this memory? Who is this man? Another question pops into my head; why does the Red Queen hate me?

"Why does the Red Queen hate me so?" I spit the question out so suddenly, I surprise even myself.

"There is a prophecy, a prophecy of the rightful ruler of Wonderland. The prophecy states that when this ruler reaches her eighteenth year, she will come and overthrow the Red Queen and restore the land to what it once was" he says

"How do you know this ruler is me?" I ask

"After hearing about the prophecy, the queen, fearing for her throne, sought out someone, no one knows who, and this someone told her everything about you, including what you looked like. She has had wanted posters up with your face on them for years" he replies

I fall silent again.

"We should get back" the stranger says suddenly


	7. Chapter 7

He takes my hand and leads me back to the clearing. He sits me on the back of his horse and mounts it effortlessly.

"Come now men, we can't be late" he calls out.

He takes off, this time I am already holding on tight.

We soon reach huge iron gates guarded by cards with helmets, holding spears. The cards are very human like.

"We've got her" the stranger says

One of the cards nods and the gates swing open. As we gallop towards the huge, towering castle, I look around and see lots of cards running around with brushes and buckets of a deep red liquid, it almost looks like blood. They are painting white roses, they are painting them red.

"Curiouser and curiouser" I whisper

We slow to a stop. And all but two of the men disperse. They dismount their horses, quickly followed by the stranger. He grabs my waist and slings me over his shoulder, I don't even bother to try and fight him, he wants to get back to his wife.

I throws me into a cell, it's cold and damp. I look into his eyes and I know exactly what he's saying, he's saying how sorry he is. I try to tell him it's okay and that I understand, but I feel woozy suddenly and I pass out.

I swim back to consciousness, but keep my eyes closed; I hear whispers next to me.

"She hasn't woken up in three days and nothing we're trying is working" an unfamiliar male voice says

"So, what? We kill her?" that familiar, high, female voice says

"She's already dead" the male voice says gravely

A defeated sigh,

"All right fine; put her under" the female says

I don't know if their conversation continues passed that, because at that point I pass out again.

The first thing I register when I wake up is I'm blindfolded and two men are half-leading, half-dragging me somewhere. They walk up three stairs and I am forced to kneel down. The blindfold is ripped of me and I go to cover my eyes from the blinding light, but my hands are bound behind me. I quickly survey where I am. I'm surrounded by people, watching me intently and on a balcony overlooking the courtyard is the red faced lady, wearing a red gown, a small, golden crown on her head.

"Off with her head!" She yells suddenly

My head is forced onto the cold stone in front of me; my hair is gently swept off the back of my neck. I see a butterfly land next to me. It flaps its wing next to me. I smile, because I know who it is. I wish I could tell it that this was my escape. I feel a rush of cool air on the back of my neck, and everything goes black.


End file.
